Bread Attempt # 2 - Hamburger Buns

One thing I really miss about living in SF is Sunday dinner at my parents' house. Since everyone pretty much always shows up, there is lots of conversation, gossip and always a balanced meal (with individual salads!) and dessert. The food is enjoyable because it's food I don't typically make (big pieces of meat, things with lots of cheese, things with gravy). I think Dave and I agree on our personal favorites - burgers, chicken katsu and spaghetti. So while here in MI, once in awhile, I make a "Sunday Dinner" for us and yesterday I decided on burgers with homemade buns! I used a recipe called "Moomie's Best Burger Buns" since they had great reviews and originated on the King Arthur's Flour site (well-regarded). The recipe is easy enough, ingredients mixed/kneaded in the KA mixer, left to rise for an hour, shaped into buns, short 2nd rise and baked off. I cut the recipe to yield 4 and added sesame seeds and flax seeds to 2 of them. You can see in the pictures that they look a little flat and I was afraid they might be a little dense/heavy (I didn't have a backup plan!). It was needless worry as the buns were really good! Soft & fresh-tasting with excellent texture. You can see from the picture that the burger was smaller than the bun (which I hate at restaurants) so next time, smaller buns & bigger burgers. In an homage to Joyce, we also ate tater-tots and soup made from Lipton soup mix with an egg mixed in! Anyway, this bread thing is less difficult than I thought - though I've only made 2 simple breads so far. Up next, white sandwich bread for Dave's PB&Js.

Breakfast at the International Tuba Museum

Not positive, but I think we can only do this in Michigan. The Traveler's Club is a restaurant, diner, really that doubles as a tuba museum. We stopped in for breakfast Saturday morning. It has a nice vibe - kind of felt like we were in Berkeley or something. Random tubas and other instruments hanging off the walls (better than deer heads in my book!) The waitstaff are the "cool kids" (the alt-rockers?) from MSU (or maybe area high schools) - totally mellow and nice. Food was decent - Dave had french toast and I had huevos rancheros - and inexpensive. They have monthly specials from different countries & a huge selection of international beers - so dinner with food and beer is next on the list!

Hoppy Easter!!

I've never colored eggs while there was snow on the ground . . . so it's a Michigan experience! The bunnies are not an original idea, I got it from Martha Stewart - and hers look a lot better. .but ours are cute! Wanted to color more, but there is no one to eat them all. . . . I bought the box that had the stencils/letter stickers so we could put names on the eggs, but inside the box was color tablets and a copper wire egg scooper - and no stencils or letter stickers! Bad quality control - but I don't want to go back to the store and ask for my $1.88 back. Anyway, hope everyone had a relaxing Easter weekend!

Scratch that!

I think I said Spring had arrived. Or that it was warming up. . .well, I take it back! These are pictures from Tuesday - about 8am. Dave cleared off the car for me so I could drive to the gym (and drop him off on the way). I had always wondered about Opening Day games being cancelled due to snow - but I guess it can really happen (though the Tigers started the season fine) . . . only in the Midwest!!!

Hachimaki の 男の子 (headband boy)

I finally got to visit Daiso on my last visit home. It's 15,500 square feet of hyaku-en madness with all the plastic storage options one could ever wish for. I got sucked in and spent about $25 . . . bought totally random stuff - a maneki neko for the Michigan home, to infuse some ethnic flavor, plastic shampoo bottles, racks for the freezer, some arts/crafts stuff and a hachimaki for Joji. I couldn't pass it up (especially since being in a dollar store, it was $1.50!) and I figured he needs to show his asian-ness somehow. What do you think, immediate Asian-cred? Hmmm. Maybe next I have to find a $1.50 samurai sword? Anyway, here are the pictures. . . .I think I really am the crazy auntie but I guess he tolerates me because I am pretty fun!

Cappuccino Mess

Apologies for not posting lately. Not much going on in the middle - though we are getting to the end of winter, so soon the Ugg boots and NF Nuptse jacket will soon be packed away! We have been spending a lot of time in coffee shops (Dave studying, me reading whatever magazine or newspaper) and watching Netflix (love Entourage!) but not much else. The other day we decided to make some cappuccinos with the handy dandy Bialetti Gran Gala Cappuccino Maker (a Williams-Sonoma exclusive, got it from Kristen for xmas). It's pretty cool, you put water in the bottom, add grinds and milk in the top and put it on the stove. Minutes later, a completed capp with foamy milk, strong espresso and if you're me, vanilla syrup. Yum! Unless of course, you don't fit the little spring mechanism on correctly - and after a few minutes you're scared it's going to blow up. . . .and then it does. . . .this is what it looks like:

Yes, that's the ceiling (and Dave mopping the ceiling). Pretty powerful stuff. Dave bravely tried again - and thankfully we had some nice coffee that day. I'm still a little scared of it though!